Entrepreneurship has
long been encouraged especially here in the Philippines where most families
need a bigger source of income and more job opportunities need to be generated.
However, several characteristics must be possessed by an aspiring entrepreneur
to help ensure the success of his/her venture. According to www.businessdictionary.com , “Entrepreneurship
is the capacity and willingness to undertake conception, organization, and
management of a productive venture with all attendant risks, while seeking
profit as a reward. Entrepreneurial spirit is characterized by innovation and
risk-taking, and an essential component of a nation’s ability to succeed in an
ever changing and more competitive global marketplace.”
Www.Forbes.com
published an article on their website last June 4, 2012 entitled “Are you an Entrepreneur” which includes
a questionnaire from Kauffman FastTrac to test an individual’s entrepreneurial
aptitude. Most of the questions were on the individual’s characteristics and
abilities while the latter part aims to dig deeper on why this person wants to
be an entrepreneur as well as their needs to actually make it happen. Based on
the self-assessment test I took, I separated my traits into three (3) categories
namely, STRONG, AVERAGE, and NEEDS IMPROVEMENT.
STRONG TRAITS
One of my most dominant trait is
being passionate. Growing up, my parents showed how proud they are of
our every achievement and as their child, I never wanted to let them down. This
developed my eagerness to strive hard and succeed in life and trained me to
give my all in every task I am faced. I also believe that all of us will constantly encounter problems but I know that
I have the stamina and patience to tackle them until they are resolved. Having
said that, I would also like to think that I possess determination and resiliency in the sense that I can quickly recover
from difficulties I come across. Another attribute I strongly value is having a
sense of accountability. I’ve been in Sales for almost 6 years and in
this line of work, I depend on the support of our internal teams to serve the
clients’ requirements. Since I am customer-facing, I take accountability for
whatever the outcome of our service will be. Although the back-end process is
not my responsibility, I know that the customers’ satisfaction is my
accountability. In relation to this, I understand that this trait is not only
applicable in the workplace. Rather, we are accountable to the welfare of our
society. This leads to being socially responsible, a trait that has strongly been
inculcated in me especially when I was in college. Cliché as it may sound; I
always try to remind myself that I don’t live for myself alone – that I am for
others. In every decision or action I make, I always do my best to consider
those around me. In every achievement, I believe you would understand its
deeper purpose if you give back and share your successes with others. On your
journey to success, it is important to ensure that you live out the values of honesty
and integrity. At the end of
the day, nothing would beat the feeling of reaching the goal without having to
step on other people to get to where you want to be. Moreover, the career I
chose honed me to build strategic connections and relationships to expand my network. This is a very important trait of an
entrepreneur as it paves the way for you to learn about different people’s
experiences which may be beneficial for your business. These contacts may also
have their own ventures that your business can partner with. Lastly, I have
always been independent. Although I recognize that there are people around
me who are more than willing to provide support, I prefer to exhaust all
possible efforts to get the task done by myself. I am open to advise and inputs
from others, especially those whom I know have far more experience than I do,
but I am taught to think on my own first before consulting someone else if
necessary instead of being completely dependent on others.
AVERAGE TRAITS
I also assessed that there are
traits I possess which I believe are dominant but still needs further thrust.
First of all, I would like to believe that I have the ability to adapt in uncertain
environments. There are
situations life puts you in which contain more questions than answers. Although
I have always been independent and resilient, as previously mentioned, I don’t immediately
decide to take on risks but once I do, I am able to adjust and eventually make
it through. It may be noticed that there are a quite a number of traits I developed
through my job, an addition to this would be my persuasiveness. This is definitely one of the most
important traits a salesperson should have but I know that there are still
strategies and techniques I need to learn be able to convincingly communicate
with other people. It is also important in any field to have self-discipline
to get things done. Personally, I do have the ability to control myself and do
tasks I have to finish but there are days when I slightly lose focus and easily
get distracted. Despite this, I can easily recover from times when I get
derailed as previously mentioned but I know that it would be very helpful for
me if I improve on this aspect. In being an entrepreneur, it is obviously a
great advantage if you have keen market awareness. My college degree
as well as a number of my MBA classes has helped me develop critical thinking
to assess opportunities and potential needs and gaps in the market. However,
since I have not experienced putting up a business of my own yet, my
application of concepts have only been hypothetical and theoretical. I am sure
that real-life application would be completely different as there would be
several factors to be taken into consideration. This also goes with my business
knowledge¸ which at the
moment, is only limited to what I have learned in school. Lastly, I would like
to believe that I have developed a good sense of people judgment considering
that I have been exposed to different kinds of people. I believe that this is
an important trait for entrepreneurs because if we set hiring employees as an
example, they have to be able to determine if that certain individual can help
him carry out his vision for the company. This is also applicable in dealing
with other stakeholders as others may have insincere motives. Given these, I
know that there are still more to be learned in terms of ‘reading’ people and
knowing their true intentions.
TRAITS THAT NEED IMPROVEMENT
I recognize the fact that there
are characteristics I need to improve on to become an effective entrepreneur. First
of all, I realize the need to be more organized which does not merely
apply to how I fix my documents but more on setting up effective and efficient
processes/systems that would be beneficial for the business. At work, I have developed
my own system which is applicable to my function in the company. However, I know
that operating a business would be a different ball game. In addition to this,
I also need to improve on my people management skills. Although I
never had a problem in dealing with people, I have yet to experience leading a
group towards the vision of the business to ensure its success. Lastly, I would
also like to enhance my problem-solving skills as I know
entrepreneurs constantly encounter this. My patience and determination in
tackling problems was previously highlighted but I know that the best practice
is to anticipate problems before they arise instead of just fire-fighting when
it’s already in front of you.
CONCLUSION
In summary, I found this exercise of assessing oneself
to be very helpful as there are times when we become too complacent and
confident that we can easily get to where we want to be. After taking the
assessment quiz, the results show that I have the traits of a potentially
successful entrepreneur. Knowing the specific characteristics that I need to
work on and those that are already dominant in me, I can now strategize in such
a way that will leverage my strengths and develop ways to improve my weaknesses.
Based on the traits I mentioned which need to be improved, I commit to do my
best to work on these because these are practically the core characteristics
that make a successful entrepreneur. It may not be done in an instant but it is
definitely a good start in pursuing this goal.
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